The telephone is a necessity of modern life. But, because it is a shared resource, it can be the source of family conflict in some households. For example, one person may become annoyed if they too frequently have to answer a ringing phone and take messages for someone who is not home. In addition, answering call waiting signals for someone who is not at home can annoy both the person answering the call and the person they put “on hold” to answer the call waiting signals. Furthermore, the person who is not home can become angry if someone forgets to tell them about an important call that was received by someone else while they were away. The telephone bill can be another potential source of family conflict. Teenagers may talk longer on toll calls than their parents would prefer, or may access “900” or other numbers in contravention of parental rules. Consequently, it is desirable to develop technology to provide “intelligent” telephone services that can vary depending on whether a particular person is home or on the identity of the person using the telephone.
In addition, it may be desirable to provide a means for “intelligently” controlling certain other shared resources in the home, such as the thermostat or a home security system, depending on whether someone is at home.
One way in which this can be accomplished is to provide each household member with a transmitter that communicates to a base station in the home, providing an indication that the person having the transmitter is home. The base station can then upload that information to the telephone network so that the telephone network can tailor its services accordingly.
Previous technology that communicates to a telephone network has been available. One such system is the AT&T Enhanced Personal Base Station (EPBS). The EPBS is part of AT&T's Fixed Wireless Service. When a customer's wireless telephone is within range of the EPBS (i.e., inside the home or business), the wireless telephone operates as though it were a cordless telephone operating on a wireline network. In other words, the wireless telephone provider will operate the wireless telephone differently depending on whether it is within range of a base station receiver in the home or office.
However, the EPBS system is limited to use with a wireless telephone, and people do not always take the wireless phones with them when they leave home, or they may lend their wireless phone to other members of the household. Consequently, the EPBS does not adequately monitor when a person is in fact at home. Moreover, the EPBS cannot determine who is at home.
Signal-transmitting devices also have been used to indicate the location of the device's user relative to other wired or wireless communications devices connected to a communications system. This technology is embodied in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,663, which pertains to a system for automatically forwarding calls to wired or wireless device close to that person without the need for the person activating or deactivating the call forwarding system. However, this system only acts to forward calls made to a specific number. It does not identify the persons who are home nor does it provide telephone or other services depending on the identity of those persons.
It would be extremely desirable to develop technology for sending transmissions to a base station within the home that could more accurately indicate whether a person is in fact home. It would be even more desirable if the system could indicate whether that person had any specific characteristics, e.g., age, so that the telephone or other service provider could better tailor their services depending on who is at home.
The ability of a telephone network or other service provider “intelligently” to provide services to a household can improve household life. It also can open up new revenue opportunities for the service providers by making it possible to sell service enhancements that more fully satisfy customer needs.